Coverall



March s, 195s- M. L. LAWSON 2,703,404

COVERALL Filed Aug. 13, 1952 l' Whip United States Patent O 2,703,404covERALL Marguerite Lee Lawson, Columbia, S. C.

Application August 13, 1952, Serial No. 304,112

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-79) This invention relates to improvements incoveralls, and particularly to a coverall designed for children.

It is an object of this invention to provide a garment which is suitablefor both male and female children, which can be easily and quickly puton and taken olf, and which facilitates changing and adjusting ofundergarments.

Another object of this invention is to provide a garment which hasadequate protection for young children, and which has a pleasing,distinctive appearance due to its construction.

A further object of this invention is to provide a garment which isadjustable to the extent that the garment may be adapted to t a child asthe child increases in size.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing description of the present invention illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is an elevational view of a garment formed in accordance withmy invention with the front portions being displaced slightly to moreclearly illustrate the rear portions.

Figure 2 is an elevational view of a portion of one element forming thecomplete garment.

Figure 3 is a sectional elevational view taken along line 3 3 of Figure1.

Figure 4 is a sectional elevational view taken along line 4--4 of Figure2.

Figure 5 is a sectional plan view taken along line 5-5 of Figure 2.

Similar reference characters represent similar parts in the severalfigures.

Coveralls are commonly used for clothing small children. Not only canCoveralls be made out of long wearing material, but they also protectthe child from injury and under-garments from being worn from dirt anddamage. One great disadvantage of coveralls, however, is the fact thatthey must be completely removed when changing diapers, etc. Coverallssimilarly to other garments, also are soon outgrown by young children.The full wear of the garment is not attained when it can no longer beworn. The hereinafter described garment has been devised to provide acoverall which affords the protection desired, yet which provides greatconvenience in changing diapers, etc. The coverall, as will be seen, isalso so constructed that it can be adapted to the increasing size of thechild. Furthermore, it will be seen that the garment has a pleasing,distinctive overall appearance.

Referring particularly now to the drawings, indicates a garmentcomprised of two independent pieces 11 and 12, each one of which formsan enclosure for one leg of a child. The side piece 12 may comprisepleat 13, cuff 14, a belt or waistband 15, crotch insert 16 and bib 17.The side piece is also pleated in the back. The crotch piece is cut onthe bias to allow the proper fullness. As shown in Fig. 3, the culi 14is formed of sutlicient material to provide ample room for letting out.The cloth is folded over double and stitched as at 18. The twoleg pieces11 and 12 are seen to be exact duplicates insofar as the aboveconstruction is concerned. The inner edges of each leg piece aresubstantially coextensive and face each other with the inner surface ofthe inner edge of leg 11 facing the outer surface of the inner edge ofleg 12, when the garment is fully expanded.

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trates a portion of the element 11. As shown, the waist band comprises aseparate piece of cloth stitched as at 20 to one side of the element 11,then tack-stitched as illustrated at 2 1 to the opposite side. Theextreme ends of the waist band are securely stitched to the piece 11 onboth sides so as to provide adequate strength. The bibs 17 and 22 areeach sewn to the top of the waistband of their respective sections. Thusthey can be removed and replaced as necessary in changing the size ofthe garment. Buttons 23 are fastened on element 12 and adapted tocooperate with button holes 24 and element 11. Similar buttons aresecured to the rear of the side piece 12, and are adapted to cooperatewith either pair of button holes 25 on side piece 11. There is alsoprovided a button 26 which can be inserted in button hole 27. Thecoextensive inner edges overlap and it is seen that leg piece 12 isreceived within leg piece 11, when the garment is assembled. Bib 17 hasa button hole 28 in which there is adapted to be placed a button 29attached to strap 30. Straps 30 and 31 are secured to the waist bandattached to side element 11. Button 32 is adapted to be inserted inbutton hole 33 on bib 22. By having the side pieces overlapped asstated, a sort of expandible sleeve arrangement is provided with thelower button 26 acting as a pivot point for expansion of the upper partof the garment when needed. This contributes to the comfort of thegarment as well as facilitates adjusting, changing, etc. The crotch doesnot become bulky and the leg sections can be easily attached orseparated. Since the two straps are attached to one side leg piece theyare always spaced the proper distance apart at the rear of the coverall,insuring adequate and proper support at all positions of expansion orcontraction. By being attached to the outer side piece it is seen thatits appearance is enhanced and also the upper portion of the outer sidepiece is supported and the upper portion of the inner side piece ismaintained in position by the outer side piece.

It is obvious that duplicate pairs of buttons, such as indicated inphantom lines in Figure 1 may be employed. Also a single horizontal rowof two or more spaced buttons may be placed on the waist-band of element12 and cooperate with a single horizontal row of button-holes on thewaist-band of element 11. In the latter case the lower buttons and holestherefor could be dispensed with. Other combinations of buttons andholes can be contrived in accordance with the dictates of style andnecessity.

Figure 2 illustrates the side element 11 flattened out so as to showboth ends of the waist band 35. As shown there are two sets of buttonholes provided at each end of the garment piece. Buttons, such as 23,can be inserted in the innermost set of holes for a small child, and inthe outermost pair of holes, as the child increases in growth. It isseen that three different waist adjustments are provided by means of theduplicate set of button holes provided at each end. As the childincreases in height the waist band and cuffs can be let out as needed.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the bibs are shaped so as to present anattractive appearance in all positions of the buttons 23 in the holes 24and 25. For this purpose the bib is cut along the angularly extendingedges 36 and 37. Also since the button holes are offset upwardly and tothe side of the inner edges of the respective side pieces, the coverallswill hang better than if the holes were in the waist line.

Figure 5 shows a cross section through the edge of the element 11 whichedge is similarly constructed to the edge of element 12. As shown theily may be formed ot' a separate piece of cloth 40 doubled over andstitched to the main body 11 at two points. As shown in Fig. 2 each leg11 and 12 is formed with two pleats 13. The construction is such thatwhen the legs are folded over so that the edges 41 overlie one anotherthe two pleats will be in alinement. Each side piece can thus be ironedflat in one single operation.

The fact that the garment is composed of two separable sections makes itpossible to match a side section of one color with a side section ofanother color. Thus, the garment as a whole can be varied in its overallappearance Figure 4 illustrates a cross section of the waist band 80 sofar as color is concerned by the use of sections of diftaken on line 4-4of Figure 2, which latter gure illusferent colors. Also, if one legshould become dirty or damaged, due to some accident, while the otherleg remains clean or undamaged, the dirty part of the garment can bewashed or repaired without the necessity of washing the whole garment.There are other distinct advantages of having two separable side pieces.One is that the changing of diapers is facilitated, as is bath roomtraining. By using the waist and crotch buttons the garment may beopened suiciently as needed.

It is obvious from the foregoing description that the garment I havedevised is uniquely adapted to use with small children, and that many ofthe problems normally experienced with coveralls have been overcome.

My two-piece garment will greatly facilitate the dressing and changingand cleaning constantly required with small children.

While I have shown and described a preferred form of my invention, itwill be understood that variations in details of form may be madewithout departure from the invention as dened in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An expandible garment comprising a pair of oppositely disposed bodyand leg members, each of said members having a waistline-forming portionadapted to partly encircle the wearers body, and a crotch-formingportion, and bib-like sections attached to each of said members at thewaistline-forming' portion, each of said members having an inner edgewhich extends downwardly from the waistline-forming portion at the frontto the crotchforming portion and upwardly at the rear to thewaistline-forming portion, which cooperates in the forming of 30 acrotch, the inner edge portion of one of said members beingtelescopically received within the inner edge portion of the other ofsaid members to form said members into a complete pair of overalls;fastener elements adjacent the waistline-forming portion andcrotch-forming portions of each member cooperable with mating fastenerelements similarly positioned on the other of said members, the fastenerelements adjacent the waistlineforming portions being provided inmultiple circumferential alignment for adjusting and expanding onemember with respect to the other, and a pair of shoulder straps xedlyattached to said other of said members at the rear thereof, one of saidstraps being removably engageable with one of said bib-like sections,the other of said straps being removably engageable with the other ofsaid bib-like sections whereby the body and leg members are supportedboth front and back adjacent the body of a wearer and the spacingbetween said straps adjacent the waistline at the rear of said garmentis fixed.

2. A garment as claimed in claim l in which each of said members has awaistline-forming portion formed by an element having its opposite endsconnected to opposite sides of the member and coextensive with the upperend of said member, said bib-like sections being attached to saidelement.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 429,665Tozer .Tune 10, 1890 1,538,123 Lamping May 19, 1925 2,131,177 Horton etal Sept. 27, 1938 2,166,514 Zapis July 18, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 146,725Great Britain July 15, 1920

